CF 654
Development IV: Adulthood &
Aging
Spring, 2008
Dennis McCaughan, Ph.D.
333 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 801
Chicago, IL 60601
312/750-1060 (office)
dennis.mccaughan@gmail.com
The study of the life course with the increasing
recognition of adulthood
and aging as dynamic developmental phases
promises to enrich our understanding of lives through time. While
the role of the past in human development has often dominated the clinical
imagination, the fact of ongoing maturational processes, the complex range
of psychosocial experience, and the certainty of existential challenges
inevitably shapes
the meanings given to life narratives. This course
seeks to enhance our recognition of the transformations of adulthood and
thus our understanding of the life course.
Goals
-
To appreciate the complex interaction between
psychological, socio-cultural, historical, and biological influences over
the life course
-
To appreciate the general cultural bias against the
recognition of development beyond adolescence.
-
To develop an understanding of life course theory
and its clinical relevance
-
To integrate psychoanalytic and social science perspectives
on adulthood and aging
Assignment
Five page paper that reflects on some aspect of
adulthood and aging in light of the course materials. The object of this
reflection can be an imaginative work (novel, film etc.) or one’s own experience.
This paper is due the last day of class.
Grades
Class participation 50%
Reflection paper 50%
COURSE OUTLINE
February 2nd: Perspectives on the life course
Elder, G.H. Jr., and Johnson, M. K. (2003). The
life course and aging: Challenges, lessons, and new directions. In
R. A. Settersten, Jr. (ed.) Invitation to the life course: Toward new understandings
of later life (pp. 49-81). New York: Baywood.
Neugarten, B. L. (1979). Time,
age, and the life cycle. American Journal of Psychiatry, 136,
887-894.
February 16th: Tasks of adult life
Gould, R. L. (1981). Transformational
tasks in adulthood. In S.I. Greenspan and G. H. Pollock (eds.) The
course of life: Psychoanalytic contributions towards understanding personality
development. Vol. 3: Adulthood and the aging process (pp. 55-89). Adelphi,
MD: NIMH.
Colarusso, C.A. (1990). The third individuation:
The effect of biological
Parenthood on separation-individuation processes
in adulthood. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 45,179-195. PEP Archive
March 1st: Partnering, parenthood, work and
the landscape of
adult life
Wallerstein, J.S., and Blakeslee, S. (1995). Happy
marriages & Patterns in marriage. In The good marriage.
New York: Warner, pp. 3-29.
Kegan, R. (1994). Parenting:
Minding our children. In Over our heads: The mental demands
of modern life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard, pp. 73-134.
McCaughan, D.L. (2004). A
love affair with our school: One parent’s story. Schools,
1: 72-84.
Mitchell, S. A.(1997), Psychoanalysis and the degradation
of romance.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 7: 23-42.
PEP Archive
March 15th: Is there a mid-life crisis?
Jaques, E. (1965). Death and the mid-life crisis.
International
Journal of Psychoanalysis, 46: 502-514. PEP Archive
Cohler, B.J., and Galatzer-Levy, R. M. (1990).
Self,
meaning, and morale across the second half of life. In R.M. Nemiroff
and C.A. Colarusso (eds.)
New dimensions in adult development (pp.
214-260). New York: Basic.
March 29th: More perspectives on mid-life
Colarusso, C. A. (1999). The development of time
sense in middle adulthood. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 68: 52-83.
PEP Archive
McAdams, D. P. (1993). Putting
it all together in midlife. In Stories we live by: Personal
myths and the making of the self. New York: Morrow, pp. 195-221.
April 12th: Perspectives on late adulthood
Colarusso, C.A. (2000). Separation-indviduation
phenomena in adulthood: General concepts and the fifth individuation. Journal
of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 48: 1467-1490.
PEP Archive
Hagestad, G. (2003). Interdependent
lives and relationships in changing times: A life-course view of families
and aging. In R. A. Settersten, Jr. (ed.) Invitation to the
life course: Toward new understandings of later life (pp.135-159).New
York: Baywood.
April 26th: More perspectives on late adulthood
Blau, H. (1986). The
makeup of memory in the winter of our discontent. In K. Woodward and
M. M. Schwartz (eds.) Memory and desire: Aging, literature, and psychoanalysis.
(pp.13-3).
Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana University Press.
May 10th: Death and dying
Craib, I. (2003). Fear,
death and sociology. Mortality, 8: 285-295.
Hall, D. (1998). The ship pounding. In Without.
New York: Houghton
Mifflin. (www.poetryfoundation.org)
Film: Starting out in the evening. (2007)
Contents Copyright, Institute for
Clinical Social Work
